SHREVEPORT -- For the first time in at least three decades and perhaps ever, the head coach of the nationally renowned LSUS Debate team is someone who didn’t attend the university or compete in its program.
Well, sort of.
Lindsay Duede donned the Drury University red as a national championship debater, but she found her home in LSUS debate circles as she plunged deep into debate tournaments while her eliminated teammates headed back to their Missouri homes.
Duede has always dreamed of becoming the LSUS debate coach, a dream she realized in July when she accepted the position.
“It’s a beautiful, full-circle moment for me that I get to work with LSUS debate now,” Duede said. “LSUS took me under their wing.
“Even though I wasn’t an official member of this team, they let me prep with them, and they lifted me up and pulled me in. These people care about each other so much, and that’s been a staple of the LSUS program in particular for many years.”
Duede won three individual national debate titles at Drury (2016-20) and two more in the professional division.
The Missouri native completed internships and started her professional life in campaign finance and fundraising in Washington D.C., thinking she’d surely found her forever home and career path.
But a serious car accident in 2021 forced her to take a holistic view of her career and life, and she decided she wanted to pursue her true passion – debate.
“The car accident changed my whole life – it was very, very bad and I should have died,” Duede said. “I recontextualized everything I was doing, and while I believed in the work I was doing, I felt the best way to make an impact was in debate.
“When I left Washington D.C. (in 2021), I did so with the explicit goal of getting the LSUS job someday. It’s the reason I went to graduate school, and I chose LSU Baton Rouge because it was close enough to Shreveport where I had friends.”
Duede started as an assistant debate coach in a full-time role but realized she needed to pursue advanced degrees to teach classes that came with the debate director role at LSUS.
Now she’s close to completing her doctorate in communication studies focusing on interpersonal communication.
But when the LSUS position opened after coach A.J. Edwards accepted a position with the University of San Diego, Duede didn’t hesitate to apply.
“Without this program and what they did for me when I was a competitor, I don’t think I’d have this opportunity now,” said Duede, who formed relationships with LSUS debate legends and past coaches like Jorgi Jarzabek, Trey Gibson and A.J. Edwards. “After the car accident, I needed something familiar and comfortable and kind, and these are the people who have been the kindest to me in my whole life.
“It’s an honor to be in this position, and I sincerely mean that because of how much this team has meant to me.”
The collaborative spirit that envelops the LSUS program will continue under Duede, who guided the debate team to a third-place finish in her first tournament as a head coach.
The Pilots set goals like embodying that team camaraderie at Lee College’s Mendoza Debate Tournament, and successful results sprouted from those roots.
Six different LSUS debaters contributed to eight top-five finishes in individual and team debate in their respective divisions, which yielded third place overall and third place in the team debate portion.
Varsity debater Addison Jacobsen led the way with a third-place finish individually, fourth place team speaker, and a fourth-place team finish with partner Lindsey Brown.
Brown finished fifth individually in varsity and captured the fourth-place speaker award.
Others include novice Cas Schnell (fifth), professional Devesh Sarda (fourth), and a fourth-place team finish for Emily Dowd and Josephine Moore.
“This is one of the biggest tournaments we’ll go to all season, and to get third place as a team shows how competitive they were,” Duede said. “The first tournament was a very emotional experience for me, especially watching the novice debaters that I personally recruited to this team compete for the first time.
“I watched them get their first topics in the first round, and they’re crying and I’m crying – it was really cool.”
Duede has coaching experience at Drury and LSU, but this is the first time she’s been the “head coach” of her own program.
Like LSUS coaches before her, public speaking classes are fertile recruiting grounds for new members, and Duede said that half of her 17-member class has joined the team.
“It’s a pretty addictive community to be around when you have people that care about you and support each other regardless of their own competitive success – they will really lift each other up,” Duede said. “Students long for community, and I’ve known that’s been the ‘LSUS difference’ for a really long time, but watching it and how it forms in person has been awesome.”
That sense of community will be on display Oct. 16 when LSUS hosts their first debate panel, which welcomes back debate alumni and discusses the role debate has played in their careers and lives.
None of this is possible without support from the administration, and it’s amazing to be in a space where there is that legitimate support,” Duede said. “That’s why this program has been able to build a legacy, and debate alumni can speak to the impact that’s had on their lives.”
Visit the LSU Shreveport Debate Team Facebook page for more information on this event.
The debate team will be in action in their annual home tournament (50th annual LSUS Red River Classic) Nov. 7-9 on campus.
